Oath For Keeps
by nickytheaweshum
Summary: It's the final battle against Gaia. The gods are dropping like flies and the world is ending. But, she gives them one last chance. A one-on-one battle between her and Percy Jackson. If he loses, the world will be under her total control. Will he succeed? Or will this be the end of the world as we know it?
1. Part 1: A Friend In Need

**[A/N] Hey guys! This is going to be either a two-shot or a three-shot so keep an eye out of them! Hope you enjoy and please review!**

Forever Together

Annabeth sat on her bunker on the Argo two. She was decked up in all of her armor her trusty dagger by her side. She had her head in her hands, thinking that the final battle was coming and things would be settled once and for all.

The other five of the seven and Nico had rescued her and Percy from Tartarus with them nearly losing Jason who took a knock to the head and passed out. His skull was very fragile after being knocked unconscious so many times in the past few weeks so a knock from a mere hellhound was enough to knock him out.

Annabeth sighed. This was it. She was on a plane to where Gaea was for the final clash where the fate of the world would be decided. Something like this made the titan war seem like the mere swat of a fly. And yet, so many had died. How many would be riding Charon's boat this time? Hopefully, everyone on their side would achieve Elysium. Of course, the best being that they remain alive. But how likely was that?

The gods were weak. Weaker than they had ever been before after a war that nearly ended them. In fact, if it had not been for Percy, they would have faded into nothing. Then, a thought hit her like one of Thalia or Zeus' lightning bolts.

Percy.

Would she lose him? Would the fates make it so? Would she let him slip through her grasp again after finally getting him back? She had been through an agonising eight months, feeling more pain than she ever had before. More than when her father remarried, more than when she felt like she was left out from the family equation and more than when she had lost Luke.

Percy had done so much for her. He had broken down her walls whenever she put them up and saved her so many times in battle that she had lost count. Subconsciously, she reached behind her head to finger the streak of grey hair on her head from when she held up the sky after being tricked by Luke. Then, she remembered that he had saved her then too. Groaning inwardly, she fell back onto her bed. One part of her armor was digging into her side but at that moment, she couldn't have cared less.

If she lost Percy again, she would not know if she would be able to take it. In fact, she might even think of committing suicide. She let out a sob when heart wrenching pain shot through her when she thought about what life would be like without Percy.

She closed her eyes and then opened them. To her surprise she was in a park sitting on a bench with Percy smiling beside her. The sun was shining, the birds were singing and delighted shrieks from children filled the air. A wide array of flowers were blooming and everything was serene and peaceful.

Percy slung an arm around her shoulders and she cuddled up against him, leaning and snuggling into his warm chest. It remained like that for a few seconds. But then, the change happened.

All of a sudden, the familiar warmth disappeared and Annabeth winced and opened her eyes as her back crashed into the hard and unforgiving back of the wooden bench. To her shock and horror, everything was grey, black or white. There was absolutely no colour in the world and there was no sunlight either. She looked up and saw gloomy and dark clouds blocking out the sunlight and warmth. She shivered and took in the sight of her surroundings. There was no happiness, no gleeful chatter. Everyone she saw was faceless and walked with a hunch, practically dragging their feet. There were no flowers or leaves, only withered branches or decomposing ones.

But the worst thing was what she saw a few metres away. Curiosity took a front seat and caution took the back of her mind as Annabeth walked forward. It was a gravestone. She kneeled in front of it and looked at the engravings:

Perseus Jackson  
August 18, 1995- ?  
Loving son, Loyal friend, Courageous hero and a Seaweed Brain  
Died in the final battle against Gaea, sacrificing himself to save the rest of the world

It was as if time seemed to slow down. Annabeth clapped her hand over her mouth and closed her eyes, willing the horrid scene to disappear. "No… this cannot be happening. It can't! It won't! NO!" Annabeth covered her ears and shook her head, willing herself to forget everything she saw.

"Wise girl? Annabeth! Annabeth! What's wrong?" Annabeth slowly opened her eyes, only for her stormy grey eyes to meet a pair of familiar sea-green eyes. She let out a whimper of relief and a sob. Throwing her arms around her lover's neck, she buried her face into his chest as if trying to stop him from disappearing altogether. Percy hugged her tight and whispered soothing words while rubbing her back. After she had finally calmed down, Percy hesitantly asked, "What's wrong?"

"…It's nothing."

"Annabeth, you were crying and you hardly ever cry. It must be serious. So spill." Annabeth looked into his intense green eyes and felt her resolve starting to weaken but nonetheless held her ground. "I don't want to talk about it." Percy was about to protest but stopped when he saw her pleading look. "…Fine."

They stayed like that for a little longer, wrapped up in each other's embrace in silence. It was not an awkward one, more like one filled with understanding and unadulterated love. Finally, Percy broke the tranquility and asked, "Annabeth, can I ask you a question?"

"You just did, Seaweed Brain." She replied teasingly but stopped when she realised he actually used her name and not "Wise girl".

"…I'm not sure I wanna know, but shoot."

Percy began to twiddle his thumbs nervously and Annabeth knew that this was not going to be pleasant. "Annabeth. During the final battle, will you… *mumble mumble mumble*" "Say that again." "I said will you take Blackjack back to Camp Half-blood and not fight." His last few words hung in the air and Percy was unsure if she had heard him properly and began to repeat himself but was swiftly cut off by her.

"Why are you saying this?"

"I'm scared because I don't want to lose you. I would feel better if you stay there and wait for my return."

"And what about how I feel?" Annabeth whipped around in Percy's arms as they slackened and faced him defiantly, her eyes ablaze with passion and anger. The grey turned stormy like the skies during a thunderstorm. "If I did that and you didn't return, then I'd commit suicide. Not only would I lose my reason to keep living, I would also never forgive myself for simply waiting here. If you want to run away, then we'll run away together. If that's what you want to do, then I'm fine with it."

She finished talking and touched the centre of his chest with the fingertips of her right hand. Her eyes softened and a soft smile appeared on her face. "But, you know... Everybody taking part in today's battle is afraid, and they all want to run away. Yet, despite the fear, they still agreed to join. That's because of you and Jason... because the two strongest demigods in this world are leading them. Or at least that's what I think. I know that you don't like to bear responsibility and be in the spotlight. But I hope that you'll try, just this once, not only for them, but also for us... so that we can return to Camp Half-blood together and stay that way forever."

Percy raised his hand and clasped Annabeth's in it, placing it over his heart. "...Sorry... I… became weak for a moment. To tell the truth, I really wish we could just run away together. I don't want you to die, and I don't want to die either. We don't have to. We could run to somewhere far away like Singapore or Australia. Somewhere far, far away. It's fine if we do not return. I just want to be with you. I don't care where. As long as you are safe with me. The two of us… forever…"

"Percy… you know that I want that so, so much. It would be like a dream. You and me…" She burst into sobs as she cried out, "I don't want us to die! I want to marry you someday, have kids and watch them grow up as we grow old together! There are so many things we haven't done. So many places we have yet to see… and now… But. Gaea is Mother Earth, remember? She will eventually find us no matter where we are. Even if that means killing everyone else in the world first."

"So that means… no matter what we do, someone will end up dying." Percy ended up croaking out the last word. Annabeth nodded silently as Percy felt her tears starting to soak into his shirt. "So… in other words we have no choice but to fight." Percy's fears did not actually go away but how could he let it all out when Annabeth herself was trying so hard to keep it together? He then strengthened his arms and closed his eyes.

"I promise we will stay together. I will find you even if they tear us apart, no matter what. Because I am going to stay with you for the rest of eternity. Even death would not be enough to keep us apart."

They would be alright. Definitely. As long as they stuck together things would definitely turn out alright, right?

**END OF PART**


	2. Part 2: Results of War

**[A/N] Hey guys! Here's a new update and I hope you enjoy it! I'm not Rick Riordan so enough said. Oh, and please don't get mad at me for doing this. This is a tragedy so no flames please! And that means you, too Tiff. You can complain in text.**

Part 2

…Nico's P.O.V…

I let out a cry of pain as a Laistrygonian sank its sharp teeth into my arm. My arm ablaze with pain, I lifted it my Stygian iron sword anyway and slashed through the offending monster and it disintegrated into a pile of gold dust. Damn cannibals. Whipping around, I looked across the battlefield. We were sorely outnumbered even though we had already closed the Doors of Death and the gods themselves were weakening. Even though I was the son of the god of death, it still sickened me as I saw the bodies of campers that I barely knew being trampled as they lay motionless on the ground.

I could even see a few souls flying away. We were so going to lose at this rate. Whipping around at the sound of gravel being crunched underfoot, I saw a batch of empousai approach. Roughly, I could guess there were about five of them. But then again, I could be wrong, considering that we were in the heat of a battle and that bite was starting to make me feel woozy.

Groaning from the loss of blood, some of which was still dripping down my arm and staining the dirt under my feet red, I wondered how I was going to get through this considering one of my arms was rendered useless, I was pale enough as it was without losing blood and my head felt like it was transported to another planet while the rest of me remained here.

Fortunately for me, two of the empousai suddenly disintegrated, as if being stabbed from out of nowhere. I looked at their remains while the other three were looking just as, if not more, puzzled than I was. There were no arrows laying there, nor was there any camper or something else looking as if they had just used a sword or dagger. The head empousai took advantage of the situation and leapt at me, snarling with its disturbingly evil smile. Caught off-guard, I closed my eyes and waited for my end to come… but strangely, it never came.

"What the hell are you doing, Death Breath?" came a familiar voice that made my hopes soar. I opened my eyes and was greeted by the relieving sight of three piles of monster dust and a tangle of blonde curls and grey eyes. Awkwardly, I chuckled and scratched the back of my head. With a roll of her eyes, Annabeth looked to the side and cursed so badly that it would have made Hades blush. Although, I couldn't really blame her.

At this rate, it looked like we would all end up in the Underworld. I sighed as I listened to Annabeth rant. "This is bloody useless! How the hell are we supposed to win like this?" She went on and on using some really complicated and colourful words along the way and I was just about to fall into unconsciousness. And those were the only ones that could remain uncensored.

Partly from pain and blood-loss, but mostly because I wanted to fall asleep.

Stifling a yawn with my good hand I said as casually as I could- which was really hard considering we were in the middle of a war that could possibly determine the fate of all mankind. Whoop-dee-doo. "You know, if this was like one of the games I used to play in the Lotus Casino –you know, those War of Legends games and stuff- the best thing to do was too take out the leader. Or at least, the brains that organised anything…" "That's it!" she exclaimed, her stormy grey eyes alight with hope.

This was around the time when I said, "…but of course it's even more important to take into account how powerful that certain person is." So, I'm not sure if she heard me or not but its not like she was actually going to take my prior advice seriously, right? "Nico Di Angelo, you are a genius!"

Or maybe she would. I am a little slow on the uptake sometimes so all I said was, "Thank you, thank you. I try." And I also closed my eyes and gave a mock-bow. For Annabeth to call me a genius –THE Annabeth Chase, mind you- to call me a genius was a miracle and probably the best thing to happen to me today. But as I opened my eyes, she was gone. Kaput. Vamoose. Nowhere to be found.

And then I thought back to when I was talking to Percy about being stuck in the Lotus Hotel and him saying that Annabeth really took the architecture games seriously. The ones with battles to- … Oh, shit. She was going to take down Mother Earth?! She was really crazy. But then again, she is dating Percy so I guess some things of his must have rubbed off on her, like her spewing random facts turning into both of them spewing random facts.

Now, I must have looked seriously weird. To other people, I would have looked like an emo kid –which I am DEFINITELY not- wearing an aviator jacket and a big, black sword having a conversation with himself. And so, they would have deemed me as crazy. Which I am certainly not.

Okay, so what if I am a teensy bit? After all, being a demigod does that to people. Whatever. Wow, I really am starting to sound emo. Damn it.

Surveying my surroundings, I tried to see if any random monsters were suddenly being vaporized. And luckily, there was a hellhound at approximately 5 O' clock disintegrating into a pile of gold dust, heading straight for a tornado of dust, dirt and pretty much all things earthy about half a kilometre away. Soon after, a Hyperborean giant that was about to kill a camper also exploded a little further away. I was about to run after her and help, but then realised I was in no condition to fight one of the strongest beings on the planet.

Groaning inwardly, I looked around for anybody that could help and saw Percy a little ways off fighting a couple of manticore. And one of them just so happened to be Dr. Thorn. I could not help but feel a little pleased at seeing the man who tried to kidnap me and his sister disintegrate into golden dust with a cry of sheer agony. Yes, I am a sadist people. Deal with it.

I used my ADHD to locate and count the monsters I would have to face to get to Percy. Let's see, there is one empousai, two hellhounds, three stymphalian birds, four zombies, five werewolves… at this rate, I'm going to be counting like the twelve day of Christmas. Hmm… that would be interesting. On the first day of Christmas, Gaea sent to me, one empousai… nah. Doesn't rhyme. Greek hards are so hard to use in rhymes these days.

Shaking those irrelevant thoughts out of my head after realising I was standing there with a stupid grin on my face like Percy did after Annabeth kissed him three years ago. Yes, I did see that. I am everywhere. Mwahahaha. Watch out under your bed tonight kids~. Gods I love being evil.

Anyway, I decided to use the last of my energy to shadow travel to Percy's side and I stood there, panting while I regained my breath. And I was promptly having Riptide stuck at my chin point. Maybe teleporting beside a battle-hardened warrior in the middle of a war was such a good idea. When Percy saw it was me, he lowered his sword as his eyes widened and he scowled. "Gods, Nico! Don't do that! I could have taken your head off! No what was so important that you had to use shadow travel to come and find me? Because frankly, you look like shit."

Sarcastically, I said to the man whom was like the older brother I never had, "Well, gee, thanks Perce. Glad to know when I look like crap. All I wanted to do was to tell you that your girlfriend is going to challenge Gaea by herself. Now, was that so important?" Percy's eyes widened in disbelief as he nearly dropped Riptide in shock. "What the hell, Nico? Why would she do that? And how do you know?"

Sheepishly, I mumbled, "Well, I have no idea why she would… although maybe it's due to the fact I said taking out the brains in war craft games from the Lotus Casino were the most important?"

At that moment, if I do say so myself, Percy looked ready to burst like a ripe tornado, but then calmed down after he realised that Annabeth would probably have come to the same conclusion anyway, considering the way things were going. He was opening his moth to reply when we heard a familiar cry of pain. Percy's face was ashen, as mine would have been if I could have become any paler, as we dashed to the source of the noise.

We were just in time to see all the gods, alive but beaten lying on the ground in a rough circle around the tornado stare at something in the middle in shock as a loud, evil cackle resounded. It was a limp body. One with blonde hair, a dagger in her hand and a cap by her side. I turned to look at Percy who was gobsmacked, but said nothing as he stood motionless, feverently praying it was not who he hoped it was.

His fears were confirmed when Athena let out a heart-rending wail. He surged forward and cradled her limp body in his arms, tears streaming down his face while I stood there, numb with shock. He kept repeating her name and the word "no" over and over again like a mantra or a monk during prayer. Until…

"Annabeth… no. No. No! NO! You can't be dead! Remember, what we said? We were going to get married someday. Then we would have kids and watch them grow up as we grow old together at each other's side? They will have your smarts, of course and my eyes. Maybe if we're lucky, Poseidon and Athena's powers! You can't die now! We're in Greece! You said you wanted to see all the artefacts and stuff, so wake up so we can go and see them after this is over!

"And then we still have to travel the world, see all the monuments you want to see and you will start spurting random facts like a walking encyclopaedia, with me making a dumb comment of some sort and you whacking me upside the head and calling me your Seaweed Brain but then kissing me and making it all better? See the pattern? I've got it all memorised and we have to do it so many times that we'll get sick of it and then we'll fight a lot but make up in the end and… well whatever but you can't leave me now! Not yet! Not ever!

"We were supposed to stay together forever! Like when we carved it into Thalia's tree? And… and…" He trailed off into silence but then burst into tears and kept saying that she was not dead and that she would wake up soon if we just gave her time. It was so sad and painful to watch. As much as I wanted to believe it, I knew the truth and there was no way around it.

Poseidon tried to calm him down, but to no avail. "Son…" "NO! SHE CAN'T BE DEAD! SHE ISN'T I TELL YOU! SHE'S GONNA WAKE UP ANY TIME NOW AND START CALLING ME AN IDIOT FOR BLUBBERING LIKE TH-" Ok, I can somewhat understand his pain as it was like when I lost Bianca, except it might be a hundred times worse for him, considering it was an unconditional love and she was his best friend for like years before they became a couple. And as much as I want to give him time to grieve and mourn, there was still a war to stop and this was just too painful and familiar. Just then, I heard a voice whisper to me. "Tell him I love him and that I'm sorry, please." Oh gods, now I have to tell him the hard truth.

Solemnly, I grabbed him by the shoulders and made him face me. His eyes were red and he looked more vulnerable than I had ever seen before. Deciding that there was no easy way around it, I had to say it. Oh, just kill me now.

"Percy, she's gone."

**END OF PART 2**


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